Wayne Allyn Root

Infobox Politician
name = Wayne Allyn Root


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candidate = Vice President of the United States
runningmate = Bob Barr
opponent = Joe Biden (D)
Sarah Palin (R)
Darrell Castle (C)
Rosa Clemente (G)
Matt Gonzalez (I)
and numerous others
birth_date = July 20, 1961 (age 46)
birth_place = Mount Vernon, New York
death_date =
death_place =
party = Libertarian
otherparty =
relations =
spouse = Debra Root
civil partner =
children = Dakota Root, Hudson Root, Remington Reagan Root, Contessa Root
residence =
occupation = TV celebrity, producer, author, CEO, politician
religion = Jewish [http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/4/4/152928.shtml]


website = [http://www.rootforamerica.com/ Root for America]
footnotes =

Wayne Allyn Root (born July 20, 1961) is the 2008 United States Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee. He is a business mogul, television celebrity, TV producer, best-selling author, and professional sports handicapper, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

At the 2008 Libertarian National Convention, Root was eliminated on the fifth ballot in a bid for the presidential nomination, but then became the vice presidential candidate alongside Libertarian nominee Bob Barr.

Personal life and education

Root was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of the late David and Stella Root. His father was a butcher from Brownsville, Brooklyn, who dabbled in third party politics as one of the original founders of the New York State Conservative Party. He has been married to a former Miss Oklahoma, Debra Root, for over 16 years. The couple have four children: Dakota, Hudson, Remington, and Contessa.

Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama).

Career

Root is Founder and Chairman of Winning Edge International Inc. Since 2000, he has hosted "Wayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge", a television show which promotes Root's sports handicapping operation. [ [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/118/118515.html W Technologies, Inc. Company Profile - Yahoo! Finance ] ] The show aired during the 2007 season on Discovery Channel on Saturday mornings, and featured analysis by Root, former NFL and College Football coach Ron Meyer, Big Al McMordie, and Chet Coppock. It has been aired in the past on Fox Sports Net, Comcast Sports, Spike TV, and Superstation WGN.Fact|date=August 2008

Root was also the creator, executive producer and co-host (along with HBO's Max Kellerman) of "King of Vegas" on Spike TV. "King of Vegas" attracted over one million viewers in one episode. His TV production company "Cool Hand Root" is based in Las Vegas.Fact|date=August 2008

Root was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars on August 15, 2006. [ [http://www.lasvegaswalkofstars.com/stars.htm Las Vegas Walk of Stars:List of Stars] ]

Root's TV handicapping career began in New York City on WNBC radio (now WFAN) in the early 1980s. He moved onto NBC "Source Radio Network" syndicated around the country in over 100 markets as a sports talk host. He later became one of the youngest anchormen and national TV hosts in America from 1989 through the early 1990s on Financial News Network (FNN), now known as CNBC. Root hosted five shows on FNN, including "Who Beat the Spread" and "FNN Zone" with Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder (of CBS "NFL Today" fame). Root has also appeared on hundreds of TV and radio talk shows.Fact|date=August 2008

Root is also the author of several books, including "The Zen of Gambling", "The Joy of Failure!", "The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling", and "Millionaire Republican", a #1 personal finance bestseller at Amazon.com. [ [http://www.rootforamerica.com/home/bio.php Wayne Allyn Root's Libertarian Presidential Candidate Website: Root for America! ] ]

Root has been profiled or featured by CNBC, "The Wall Street Journal", "Fortune", "Equities", "Millionaire", "The Robb Report", and "The New York Times".Fact|date=August 2008

Politics

Although a longtime staunch Republican who had been a big contributor to Republican candidates throughout the country, Root was often described as a libertarian Republican. He is currently writing a book on his libertarian views, with the working title "The Conscience of a Libertarian". [ [http://www.rootforamerica.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry070515-124639 Wayne Allyn Root's Blog - MY LIBERTARIAN AWAKENING ] ]

2008 presidential campaign

On May 4, 2007, Root declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's 2008 presidential nomination. [ [http://www.theonlinewire.com/articleView.aspx?ID=2690 Barack Obama co-graduate Wayne Allyn Root announces Libertarian Presidential Run ] ]

On February 5, 2008, he won the Missouri Libertarian primary. He came in second in Arizona and third in California, despite the fact that he did not campaign in any of these states. [http://www.rootforamerica.com/ Wayne Allyn Root's Libertarian Presidential Candidate Website: Root for America! ] ]

2008 vice-presidential candidacy

On May 25, 2008, Root made it to the fifth ballot at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention before being eliminated and endorsing Bob Barr, who went on to the party's presidential nomination. In the third round of voting, he was successful in the race for the vice presidential nomination, beating Steve Kubby. [ [http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml Official results from LP.org] ]

In September 2008, Root offered to give up his VP slate on the Libertarian ticket to make room for Ron Paul, as the LP received strong feelersthat the former Republican presidential candidate have been interested in getting on a strong third-party ticket, as there is still a strong following behind him. Paul declined the offer, and denied that he had any intention of running on a third party presidential ticket. [Sheinin, Aaron Gould (2008-09-10) [http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/09/10/barr_paul_veep.html "Barr asks Ron Paul to be his running mate"] , Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved on 2008-09-11.]

Political positions

Root supports smaller government, reduced spending, reduced entitlements, reduced bureaucracy, dramatically lower taxes, and greater personal freedom for individuals. In the area of education, he supports more parental control, more emphasis on school choice (moving education to the state and local level), and increased competition through vouchers. Root and his wife choose to home-school their children. He is also a strong supporter of gun rights for the individual. Root is a small businessman who believes the 2-party system is built on corruption, greed and bribery. He is a fiscal conservative in the mode of his heroes Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater. He is socially tolerant, believing that most social issues should be determined on the state and local level.Root calls for the repeal of the income tax and favors replacing it, as well as all other sources of federal tax revenues, with a tax on each state in proportion to its population, with each state deciding for itself how to raise its share of the money. [cite web
url = http://www.rootforamerica.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080415-081044
title = A Realistic Plan to End Federal Income Taxes Forever
accessdate = 2008-07-08
author = | last = Root | first = Wayne Allyn
publisher = www.RootForAmerica.com
date = | year = 2008| month = April 15

] Root holds that "the Iraq war is a disaster". He states the answer is to "use the success of the surge to declare victory and make plans to get out of Iraq as soon as reasonably possible". [ [http://www.rootforamerica.com/home/wherestands.php Root For America "Where Wayne Stands" page] .] He also questions Central Intelligence Agency information on Iran, would use "any diplomatic means", including the United Nations, in order to "avoid another war". [ [http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/7027/ Glenn Beck "Interview with Presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root"] , MSNBC March 7, 2008.]

Books authored

*cite book
last =
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title = Betting to Win on Sports (as Wayne Alan Root, "with Wilbur Cross")
publisher = Bantam
date = 1989
location =
pages =
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doi =
id =
isbn = 978-0553347890

*cite book
last =
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title = The Joy of Failure!: How to Turn Failure, Rejection, and Pain into Extraordinary Success
publisher = Summit Publishing Group
date = 1997
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 978-1565302068

*cite book
last =
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coauthors =
title = The Zen of Gambling: The Ultimate Guide to Risking It All and Winning at Life ("with Paul Pease")
publisher = Tarcher
date = 2004
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 978-1585424023

*cite book
last =
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title = Millionaire Republican
publisher = Tarcher
date = 2005
location =
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doi =
id =
isbn = 978-1585425129

*cite book
last =
first =
authorlink =
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title = The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling: How to Win Big at Poker, Casino Gambling & Life!The Zen of Gambling updated
publisher = Tarcher
date = 2006
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 978-1585425297

ee also

*Bob Barr presidential campaign, 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.rootforamerica.com/ Root for America! Vice-Presidential Campaign website]
* [http://www.winningedge.com Official website]
* [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_U.S._Libertarian_presidential_candidate_Wayne_Allyn_Root Interview on Wikinews]
* [http://www.rawvegas.tv/watch.php?vID=d310a2681da124e409c41ad8e50f6d Interview on RawVegas.tv]
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/WayneAllynRoot YouTube page]
* [http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=101948 Candidate profile] at Project Vote Smart
* [http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_detail/C00444109 Presidential campaign FEC disclosure report]
* [http://www.coloradopulse.org/Wayne%20Alan%20Root.mp3 Interview with the Progressive Student Voice]
* [http://www.titlemike.ws/page2.html World peace think tank supports Root]